I have to say that this trait is something I am not burdened with; I am more the opposite in fact. Since I am the opposite I have no idea how this can happen to people so I will stay away from any theories I have which will certainly not be valid. In the area of face recognition I can even brag a little if I want to. You should first know that when it comes to matters of whether something is or isn't I am usually very cut and dry. On this particular subject, however, I am on the fence. What I am circling here is that my ability to remember and instantly recognize faces is possibly in the realm of being a super-recognizer. Even after reading the descriptions of what it means to be a super-recognizer I don't know if there it varies, like the autism spectrum varies, for example. At one point I was 90% sure I was (and I still feel more or less this way) and this number was based on other things I once had doubts about and they later became true, the same internal feeling I had, I mean. But like I said, what it comes down to, I am assuming, is that it is 50-50, I either am or I am not as far as science and clinical testing goes. I guess I should give you the evidence, there is quite a bit of it, now and let you decide for yourself.
Back when I was still in my teens, dad and I would be randomly watching an older movie, a western perhaps, as he tended to (and still does) flip around a lot and then stops at the first thing he likes. I would see a character and exclaim "Oh, that is so and so". He, haven grown up and seeing the movie when it first came out, would basically tell me I was mistaken or that "Naw, it couldn't be". Luckily for us on this friendly argument, the internet was invented and all I had to do was go to IMDB and check. I was correct. I must stop here and ask you this: How could a person who grew up with the characters, and just as many people do, go back and watch the same movies a few times throughout the course of their lives before seeing them yet again with their eventual son and be mistaken about who the actor is? He/she has surely seen the actor in other roles before they either died or passed into obscurity and has those images of aging to compare while the much younger person they are with recognizes the actor and, in nearly all cases that involve my dad, have only seen the actor in their older form of being. What my dad started to do was bet me. Usually it was $10-20 and he lost each time, a total of around $80-100 total before he decided it wasn't in his interest to simply hand me money. Still, poker players often know they are beat but call expecting to be shown a winner; just for knowledge/ piece of mind maybe. Back to me though.
Whenever I see people I haven't seen for a while I instantly know it is them and it doesn't matter if I haven't seen them in years. I can even recognize them in baby pictures. Something is triggered either by the way they walk or their voice and my brain just says "It's them" without question. After not believing in the ability myself for a while (and honestly not knowing if it was just in my head or if it even had a specific term) I began to just let whatever cognitive system was allowing me to do it take over. I stopped questioning it because, as they say, when you know you know. One of the most apparent instances, way more profound to me than the bets with dad, occurred in 2005 at Worcester Academy.
To fulfill some type of mandatory community service hours that were necessary to graduate, students had to help out in some way, and I chose to help Ms. Gould in her office sorting photos on the computer. My decision may have been easier because she had a golden retriever puppy named Monty that I could pet whenever I felt like it. So I was sorting photos into various folders (athletics, assembly, etc.) and also sorting photographs submitted by parents of their kids when they were younger. Ms. Gould asked me to see if I could 'decipher' who a specific photo was of that she was having trouble with. I took a quick look and told her "Mike Allen" feeling 100% with my answer. She paused for a second and said something to the effect of "Oh, my, how did you know that/I not see that?!" She had a wide eyed look on her face and even I know that is evident of genuine surprise. No here is where this bit gets interesting: I had been at the school only about seven months and of course had been exposed to hundreds of students and some of them commute because the dorms aren't big enough to house everyone. Mike and I were friends at school but he was a commuter but until Ms. Gould brought the next fact up to me and I thought about it years later did the weight of it occur to me: Mike Allen was a lifer, meaning he went to the lower and upper schools at WA. He had been there since he was in 6th grade so even if Ms. Gould didn't have him for grades 6-8 (and I still don't know what her official title was/is but she may have been exposed to him before he reached the upper school and certainly after he did) she may have met him before grades 9-12. I do not know the exact age Mike was in the picture, and I probably should ask him, but I knew it was him, no question in my mind. I don't know if it was the smile, his head shape or facial features but I knew it instantly. So how could a teacher that had known someone a minimum of four and a maximum of seven years not know and be stumped by a picture of someone they have seen number in the hundreds of times while myself, who has only known the man in question seven months, maximum, and never seen him while he was younger, recognize him right away? But wait there's more.
I see old teachers, parents of friends and I say 'hello' to them as is customary and they have no idea who I am. Saying they look at me as if I had five heads would probably be more accurate. I then explain to them the types of interaction we used to have and then they start to get it, although a few of them still have no idea and are probably internally think I am crazy. I know I have gained 25 pounds since high school but, come on, I didn't get plastic surgery or anything like that. As it relates to them in my mind, any apparent weight gain, age lines or change in appearance does not phase me in the least bit, its like I can see through the, well I guess its not a disguise because they now look like that, veil of aging that they have gone through. It is for this reason I will always be the first to notice, and subsequently point out, that you got a hair cut or even styled your hair differently that day. Something is my brain just goes off and says 'A change has occurred here', that is the best way I can describe it. What I am exploring, and not deeply yet but possibly later on, is the theory that cavemen/cave women did have something internally that let them recognize friend of foe quickly. This may have been a necessary defense mechanism for them as not being able to notice could have left them vulnerable to attack. I think I briefly discussed something like this and certainly a lot more in an earlier, and possibly popular for some reason post entitled "Call me Captain Caveman" that can be seen on this blog. I say 'possibly popular' because the post was up for a year or so before it started getting most of the hits on my blog and I am left to wonder whether people magically started searching for Captain Caveman since then and why the post had barely any views before it became as popular as it is today (although no one comments on the post itself for some reason). I am also, on that specific post, inquisitive as to whether or not people on the higher autism spectrum share key parts of the brain with Neanderthals to this day. Things such as anxiety as it relates to the obvious, at least for me in my experiences, the sudden and almost explainable 'fight or flight' reaction that often kicks in as it relates to social situations and the possible face recognition capabilities that I mentioned earlier. Being a super-recognizer is not really a super rarity but it can be of value to police and, before computers, casino use to catch possible cheaters. The really odd thing is, I can't recall to a sketch artist everything about a persons face in the most extreme details you may expect, but put ten jokers in a lineup and I will pick the person who's face it belongs to and just like that, they are off to jail. I'm positive seeing them again triggers something, something that is beyond doubt. As far as testing goes, I did pretty well.
Before I knew the term super-recognizer, I considered and used the term for what I perceive to be called facial-photographic and this term, as I explained, isn't accurate at all. I am unable to accurately describe most faces in detail although I can see the image of the person in my mind very quickly but upon seeing them again, and knowing it, is another matter entirely. I was watching 60 Minutes by sheer dumb luck when they reported on people who suffered from what is called Prosopagnosia or face blindness. They then reported on the opposite side of that, naturally, as they always try to do with any rare condition that has an opposite to compare it to. The super-recognize they were featuring was given the Before they were famous' test. I got every one of them right as well, quickly. I'm no good at math but things seemed to be adding up. I don't think the test was fool proof, and neither was the one that I scored borderline on. In the other one they take faces and then take the hair off or put hooded sweatshirts on the people and you need to try and guess if you saw them before. I, of course, had never seen the faces as they were totally random so it wasn't anything to go off of, just another bunch of faces in the crowd. I do have a theory, non technical, about how the super-recognizer brain my work.
What I think, and this is what I surmised on my own, is that the system works like this: Once you see and process a face it goes into the 'Bank' so to speak. Upon seeing the face again information from the 'bank' is called up or some sort of trigger goes off that alerts you that you have seen this face before, or one like it. It gets sort of tricky here and the next part is from my own experiences. Everyone seems to have a doppelganger out there in the world. I have seen many people who resemble celebrities but not fully, something with a combination of their facial features just screams it, to me. When I am with someone else they try to do what I can by saying that some random person we both can see looks like so and so. It takes me one look to decide whether they are close or not and a lot of the time they are either, partially correct and I agree, I bring up another person who they didn't think of and they say "Oh, wow, you're right" or, and this is where it can get really funny, an 'amalgam' (as I call it) of a few different people. I had a ton of fun with a few people at my old roommate Heather's (yes, the last year in college I lived with not one, but two girls; and that is another story entirely that I am saving for my book) graduation party. Her dad is an obvious Christoper Walken while some, unfortunate may not be the right word, lady was an amalgam of John Denver and Axl Rose, spot on. She had the long Axl hair and the vintage Denver glasses and everyone who was in the circle laughed until they cried. The ability to come up with the amalgam is perhaps one of the most telling sign for me. If I am not, than what am I with regards to how I recognize faces. Am I stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere, as I am on the autism spectrum or am I totally wrong here?
So what do you think, am I a super-recognizer of not? I may have to add more, but for now I will let you tell me what you think.
Back when I was still in my teens, dad and I would be randomly watching an older movie, a western perhaps, as he tended to (and still does) flip around a lot and then stops at the first thing he likes. I would see a character and exclaim "Oh, that is so and so". He, haven grown up and seeing the movie when it first came out, would basically tell me I was mistaken or that "Naw, it couldn't be". Luckily for us on this friendly argument, the internet was invented and all I had to do was go to IMDB and check. I was correct. I must stop here and ask you this: How could a person who grew up with the characters, and just as many people do, go back and watch the same movies a few times throughout the course of their lives before seeing them yet again with their eventual son and be mistaken about who the actor is? He/she has surely seen the actor in other roles before they either died or passed into obscurity and has those images of aging to compare while the much younger person they are with recognizes the actor and, in nearly all cases that involve my dad, have only seen the actor in their older form of being. What my dad started to do was bet me. Usually it was $10-20 and he lost each time, a total of around $80-100 total before he decided it wasn't in his interest to simply hand me money. Still, poker players often know they are beat but call expecting to be shown a winner; just for knowledge/ piece of mind maybe. Back to me though.
Whenever I see people I haven't seen for a while I instantly know it is them and it doesn't matter if I haven't seen them in years. I can even recognize them in baby pictures. Something is triggered either by the way they walk or their voice and my brain just says "It's them" without question. After not believing in the ability myself for a while (and honestly not knowing if it was just in my head or if it even had a specific term) I began to just let whatever cognitive system was allowing me to do it take over. I stopped questioning it because, as they say, when you know you know. One of the most apparent instances, way more profound to me than the bets with dad, occurred in 2005 at Worcester Academy.
To fulfill some type of mandatory community service hours that were necessary to graduate, students had to help out in some way, and I chose to help Ms. Gould in her office sorting photos on the computer. My decision may have been easier because she had a golden retriever puppy named Monty that I could pet whenever I felt like it. So I was sorting photos into various folders (athletics, assembly, etc.) and also sorting photographs submitted by parents of their kids when they were younger. Ms. Gould asked me to see if I could 'decipher' who a specific photo was of that she was having trouble with. I took a quick look and told her "Mike Allen" feeling 100% with my answer. She paused for a second and said something to the effect of "Oh, my, how did you know that/I not see that?!" She had a wide eyed look on her face and even I know that is evident of genuine surprise. No here is where this bit gets interesting: I had been at the school only about seven months and of course had been exposed to hundreds of students and some of them commute because the dorms aren't big enough to house everyone. Mike and I were friends at school but he was a commuter but until Ms. Gould brought the next fact up to me and I thought about it years later did the weight of it occur to me: Mike Allen was a lifer, meaning he went to the lower and upper schools at WA. He had been there since he was in 6th grade so even if Ms. Gould didn't have him for grades 6-8 (and I still don't know what her official title was/is but she may have been exposed to him before he reached the upper school and certainly after he did) she may have met him before grades 9-12. I do not know the exact age Mike was in the picture, and I probably should ask him, but I knew it was him, no question in my mind. I don't know if it was the smile, his head shape or facial features but I knew it instantly. So how could a teacher that had known someone a minimum of four and a maximum of seven years not know and be stumped by a picture of someone they have seen number in the hundreds of times while myself, who has only known the man in question seven months, maximum, and never seen him while he was younger, recognize him right away? But wait there's more.
I see old teachers, parents of friends and I say 'hello' to them as is customary and they have no idea who I am. Saying they look at me as if I had five heads would probably be more accurate. I then explain to them the types of interaction we used to have and then they start to get it, although a few of them still have no idea and are probably internally think I am crazy. I know I have gained 25 pounds since high school but, come on, I didn't get plastic surgery or anything like that. As it relates to them in my mind, any apparent weight gain, age lines or change in appearance does not phase me in the least bit, its like I can see through the, well I guess its not a disguise because they now look like that, veil of aging that they have gone through. It is for this reason I will always be the first to notice, and subsequently point out, that you got a hair cut or even styled your hair differently that day. Something is my brain just goes off and says 'A change has occurred here', that is the best way I can describe it. What I am exploring, and not deeply yet but possibly later on, is the theory that cavemen/cave women did have something internally that let them recognize friend of foe quickly. This may have been a necessary defense mechanism for them as not being able to notice could have left them vulnerable to attack. I think I briefly discussed something like this and certainly a lot more in an earlier, and possibly popular for some reason post entitled "Call me Captain Caveman" that can be seen on this blog. I say 'possibly popular' because the post was up for a year or so before it started getting most of the hits on my blog and I am left to wonder whether people magically started searching for Captain Caveman since then and why the post had barely any views before it became as popular as it is today (although no one comments on the post itself for some reason). I am also, on that specific post, inquisitive as to whether or not people on the higher autism spectrum share key parts of the brain with Neanderthals to this day. Things such as anxiety as it relates to the obvious, at least for me in my experiences, the sudden and almost explainable 'fight or flight' reaction that often kicks in as it relates to social situations and the possible face recognition capabilities that I mentioned earlier. Being a super-recognizer is not really a super rarity but it can be of value to police and, before computers, casino use to catch possible cheaters. The really odd thing is, I can't recall to a sketch artist everything about a persons face in the most extreme details you may expect, but put ten jokers in a lineup and I will pick the person who's face it belongs to and just like that, they are off to jail. I'm positive seeing them again triggers something, something that is beyond doubt. As far as testing goes, I did pretty well.
Before I knew the term super-recognizer, I considered and used the term for what I perceive to be called facial-photographic and this term, as I explained, isn't accurate at all. I am unable to accurately describe most faces in detail although I can see the image of the person in my mind very quickly but upon seeing them again, and knowing it, is another matter entirely. I was watching 60 Minutes by sheer dumb luck when they reported on people who suffered from what is called Prosopagnosia or face blindness. They then reported on the opposite side of that, naturally, as they always try to do with any rare condition that has an opposite to compare it to. The super-recognize they were featuring was given the Before they were famous' test. I got every one of them right as well, quickly. I'm no good at math but things seemed to be adding up. I don't think the test was fool proof, and neither was the one that I scored borderline on. In the other one they take faces and then take the hair off or put hooded sweatshirts on the people and you need to try and guess if you saw them before. I, of course, had never seen the faces as they were totally random so it wasn't anything to go off of, just another bunch of faces in the crowd. I do have a theory, non technical, about how the super-recognizer brain my work.
What I think, and this is what I surmised on my own, is that the system works like this: Once you see and process a face it goes into the 'Bank' so to speak. Upon seeing the face again information from the 'bank' is called up or some sort of trigger goes off that alerts you that you have seen this face before, or one like it. It gets sort of tricky here and the next part is from my own experiences. Everyone seems to have a doppelganger out there in the world. I have seen many people who resemble celebrities but not fully, something with a combination of their facial features just screams it, to me. When I am with someone else they try to do what I can by saying that some random person we both can see looks like so and so. It takes me one look to decide whether they are close or not and a lot of the time they are either, partially correct and I agree, I bring up another person who they didn't think of and they say "Oh, wow, you're right" or, and this is where it can get really funny, an 'amalgam' (as I call it) of a few different people. I had a ton of fun with a few people at my old roommate Heather's (yes, the last year in college I lived with not one, but two girls; and that is another story entirely that I am saving for my book) graduation party. Her dad is an obvious Christoper Walken while some, unfortunate may not be the right word, lady was an amalgam of John Denver and Axl Rose, spot on. She had the long Axl hair and the vintage Denver glasses and everyone who was in the circle laughed until they cried. The ability to come up with the amalgam is perhaps one of the most telling sign for me. If I am not, than what am I with regards to how I recognize faces. Am I stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere, as I am on the autism spectrum or am I totally wrong here?
So what do you think, am I a super-recognizer of not? I may have to add more, but for now I will let you tell me what you think.
